(WASHINGTON) — The 11 Republicans in the group of senators trying to work out a bipartisan infrastructure deal are sending a letter to Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer saying no GOP member will vote “yes” to start debate on any measure Wednesday, according to a senior lawmaker close to the continuing talks over how to pay for the $1.2 trillion package.
Schumer had set the high-stakes vote to try to force progress on a top priority for President Joe Biden, but he needs the Republicans to get past the 60-vote threshold to advance legislation.
“I don’t think any Republican votes yes tomorrow. I don’t think we should, because we’re not ready,” the senior lawmaker said. “My hope is, by the end of the day, we should know a lot more.”
Instead, the GOP negotiators’ letter to Schumer will say that Republicans, who have been warning they won’t vote on advancing a bill that’s not yet written, are prepared to support starting debate on Monday, the senior lawmaker said.
The group, which has been working around the clock, along with White House officials, is “close,” to a deal on how to pay for roads, bridges and other “traditional infrastructure,” according to numerous members involved. They were meeting again Tuesday afternoon — joined by senior Biden aides – to try to finalize a bill.
The White House said it continued to support Schumer’s tactics.
But the bipartisan group of lawmakers won’t get a final agreement by Wednesday, according to multiple negotiators.
At the same time, the senior lawmaker expects the legislation to be finalized by Monday, and that includes the nonpartisan analyses by various agencies breaking down all of the financing options, how much revenue would be produced, and a final price tag.
Republicans, in particular, will be looking to show that the $579 billion in new spending is fully paid for.
As of Tuesday afternoon, it didn’t appear as if Schumer would delay the vote, but he could minimize the impact, should it be headed for failure.
If it is, Schumer could switch his vote to the losing side at the last minute, enabling him as majority leader, under Senate rules, to call up the vote again for reconsideration.
He could do so on Monday, when GOP members of the negotiating group say they’ll be ready to go.
Might a failed vote Wednesday poison the well for GOP negotiators?
No, says the senior lawmaker close to the talks, and Sen. Jerry Moran, R-Kansas, a member of the negotiating group.
The Wednesday vote is to start debate on a shell bill because there is no final bill from the negotiators. It would serve as a placeholder should negotiators strike a final deal.
The measure is separate from a much larger bill Biden and Democrats are pushing that would spend $3.5 trillion on so-called “human infrastructure” such as child care.
Democrats plan to push that through the Senate with no Republican votes, using a budget tool called “reconciliation.”
(WASHINGTON) — With the rise in airline passengers has come a rise in violence and aggression in our nation’s airports and onboard flights throughout the country.
On Tuesday, two federal U.S. agencies, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and Transportation Security Administration (TSA) sounded the alarm on the increasingly unfriendly skies.
The FAA announced nearly 100 more in-flight incidents with unruly passengers — a week after it’s worst weekly report of unruly passengers this summer — bringing this year’s total to 3,509 reports. An overwhelming majority of these incidents, 2,605, involve passengers who refuse to comply with the federal mask mandate.
These acts of aggression are happening before boarding as well.
TSA Acting Administrator Darby LaJoye told the House Subcommittee on Transportation & Maritime Security Tuesday morning that there have been more than 85 physical assaults on TSA officers since the beginning of the pandemic. That figure includes 25 assaults since the end of May.
LaJoye said there were two assaults reported at checkpoints on Monday alone.
“There has been some frustration over the mask mandate that’s been widely reported,” he said.
But a number of the assaults have also been alcohol related.
“Passengers have pushed and shoved officers and in some cases passengers have literally bitten TSOs,” Chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee Bennie G. Thompson, D-Miss., said. “All too often these assaults occur simply because a crew member was doing their job in seeking to enforce common sense mask policies designed to protect fliers from COVID-19.”
Assaulting a TSA officer can result in a civil penalty of up to almost $15,000 and a ban from TSA PreCheck. The FAA says its maximum penalty for interfering with flight crew is $35,000, but the agency has proposed fines as high as $52,000.
Last month, the TSA warned of staffing shortages as air travel rebounded more quickly than expected.
Rep. Carlos Gimenez, R-Fla., said checkpoint lines in Miami were the longest he’s ever seen — recalling the line for TSA PreCheck was “nearly 50 yards long from front to back.” He expressed concerns that lines might get even longer when international and business travel picks up.
“We have hired about 4,700 officers,” LaJoye said at the hearing on Tuesday. “Just the last two weeks…we brought on almost 500 officers and we are on pace to meet the 6,000 number that we knew we needed, through the summer.”
The assaults can’t help, but he explained retention issues are mostly because of pay.
“It’s common for the most hardworking people to be treated the worst,” Rep. Donald Payne Jr., D-N.J., said. “These front line workers are not being compensated to the levels and degree of the importance of their job… Now TSOs are being assaulted across the country.”
(LOS ANGELES) — An unexpected budget surplus in the 2021-22 fiscal year acted as a catalyst to serve free lunches to 6.2 million public school students in California.
Starting this fall when schools and classrooms reopen, all students regardless of their family’s income will have the option to eat school meals for free.
“I am excited about the interconnected nature of these historic investments that move forward universal access to school meals for all students, universal preschool, and afterschool expanded learning programs, such as the Expanded Learning Opportunities Program—all critical areas in ensuring equitable opportunities for California’s students,” State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Thurmond said in a statement.
The 30% budget increase in California public school funding, includes a jump of up to $80.4 billion from $69.3 billion in 2020.
After a year of uncertainty around the U.S. with new initiatives, waiver extensions and a to-go program to help families gain access to meals for their children and prevent the stigma of accepting free lunches, this marks the largest free student lunch program in the country.
School officials, lawmakers, anti-hunger organizations and parents have hailed this pioneering project to further alleviate the negative connotations around food assistance programs.
“This is so historic. It’s beyond life-changing,” Erin Primer, director of food services for the San Luis Coastal Unified School District on California’s central coast said in a statement.
While other major cities including New York, Boston and Chicago have free school meals in place, statewide universal meal programs have been called too costly and unrealistic.
Late last month, California was the first state to adopt a universal program, followed shortly after by Maine which created a similar plan.
“We’ve completely leveled the playing field when it comes to school food,” Primer said, adding that this funding will allow her to offer “tastier, better quality food such as fresh bread, produce and cheese from local producers.”
According to the USDA Food and Nutrition service, a family of four must make less than $34,000 a year to qualify for free meals and $48,000 to qualify for reduced-price meals. While caps shift annually, it’s based on federal poverty measures that don’t take into account taxes and high cost of living in California.
Over 200 organizations back the “School Meals for All” coalition, including longtime universal free meals advocate Sen. Nancy Skinner and other lawmakers, and have pushed for funding in the state budget to gain momentum.
The $262 billion budget provides $54 million for the coming school year, supplementing funding from the Biden administration through June 2022. After that, California will spend $650 million annually.
(WASHINGTON) — A fully vaccinated spokesperson for House Speaker Pelosi tested positive for COVID-19 this week after interacting with several infected Texas Democratic state legislators who traveled to the capital.
“Yesterday, a fully-vaccinated senior spokesperson in the Speaker’s Press Office tested positive for COVID after contact with members of the Texas state legislature last week. This individual has had no contact with the speaker since exposure,” Pelosi spokesperson Drew Hammill told ABC News.
“The entire press office is working remotely today with the exception of individuals who have had no exposure to the individual or have had a recent negative test. Our office will continue to follow the guidance of the Office of Attending Physician closely,” he added.
A fully vaccinated White House official also tested positive for COVID-19 off-campus, the White House disclosed Tuesday. News of both “breakthrough” infections was first reported by Axios.
“I will say that we — according to an agreement we made during the transition to be transparent and make information available, we committed that we would release information proactively if it is commissioned officers. We continue to abide by that commitment,” White House press secretary Jen Psaki said Tuesday.
At least six of the more than 50 Texas Democrats who fled Austin last week to block dual Republican-backed bills that would revise the state’s voting and election laws in ways voting rights advocates say would make it harder for Texans to cast a ballot have since tested positive for COVID-19 in Washington. The infections prompted a flurry of contact tracing on Capitol Hill and at the White House, where they have met with legislators and senior administration officials, including Vice President Kamala Harris.
House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, D-Md., on Tuesday suggested that House leaders could discuss “whether going back to [masks on Capitol Hill] work,” but added that the Office of the Attending Physician, who addresses the medical needs of Congress, “has not suggested” a return to the practice.
In a memo distributed to House offices on Tuesday, Attending Physician Brian Monahan did not announce any changes to House masking policy.
“Vaccinated individuals seeking to further reduce their risk of disease, or further reduce potential risk of transmitting disease to vulnerable household members, may consider additional protective actions such as wearing a well-fitted, medical-grade filtration mask when they are in a crowded or interior location,” he wrote. “Individuals have the personal discretion to wear a mask and future developments in the coronavirus Delta variant local threat may require the resumption of mask wear for all as now seen in several counties in the United States.”
(NEW YORK) — A government agency is urging vacation rental companies to require owners to disable at-home elevators or make safety modifications following the death of a child in North Carolina earlier this month.
In a letter to Airbnb, Vrbo and others, The Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) said residential elevators “can pose a deadly but unforeseen hazard to children.”
“Small children can be crushed to death in a deadly gap that may exist between the doors,” the letter said.
CPSC said if the gap between the exterior door and inner door is too deep, a child can become entrapped between the two, resulting in serious injury and even death.
“Children, some as young as two and as old as 12, have been crushed to death in this gap, suffering multiple skull fractures, fractured vertebrae and traumatic asphyxia,” the letter said. “Other children have suffered horrific and lifelong injuries.”
The letter comes after a 7-year-old Ohio boy was killed in an elevator accident at a rental home in the Outer Banks.
CPSC said the gaps can be made safer by placing space guards on the exterior doors or by using electronic monitoring devices that deactivate elevators when a child is detected in the gap.
“These fixes are relatively inexpensive and can save lives,” the letter said.
The agency said companies should notify rentals about the potential hazard as well as require all hosts to lock outer access doors or disable at-home elevators until the hazardous gaps are remedied.
CPSC said the companies should also require elevator inspections at any listed homes in the future.
“By working together, we can stop these agonizing deaths and prevent further harm to children and families,” the letter said.
Neither Airbnb nor Vrbo immediately responded to request for comment.
(WASHINGTON) — The U.S. intelligence community has launched a new panel of experts that brings together senior officers and outside medical and scientific experts to investigate the “anomalous health incidents” affecting dozens of U.S. personnel around the world, an intelligence official told ABC News.
The U.S. government still has not reached a conclusion into the cause of the incidents, sometimes known as “Havana syndrome” after the first cluster of cases was reported at the U.S. embassy in Cuba.
But more reported cases are now being investigated at the embassy in Austria’s capital, Vienna, according to the State Department, whose spokesperson said Monday that it is “vigorously investigating reports of possible unexplained health incidents” among U.S. personnel there.
Austria is just the latest country where incidents have now been reported. The National Security Council is overseeing a government-wide review “to ascertain whether there may be previously unreported incidents that fit a broader pattern,” White House press secretary Jen Psaki said Monday, and “whether they constitute an attack of some kind by a foreign actor.”
Beyond that review, the intelligence community also established the new panel of experts earlier this month — bringing together senior officers from the CIA, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence and outside scientific and medical experts — to explore the multiple hypotheses into what is causing the “health incidents,” an intelligence official told ABC News.
It’s the latest federal government review into an issue that has vexed officials since 2016 when the first cases were reported in Cuba, underscoring how little U.S. officials still know about it.
The new panel will build off of the findings of a report by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine last December, according to the official, which concluded that “directed, pulsed radio frequency energy appears to be the most plausible mechanism in explaining these cases, especially in individuals with the distinct early symptoms.”
Dozens of U.S. officials have been diagnosed with injuries, including traumatic brain injuries, after reporting strange experiences like high-pitched sounds or feelings of pressure or vibration, or debilitating symptoms including headaches, nausea, cognitive deficits, and trouble with seeing, hearing, or balancing.
Before Austria, the U.S. government had acknowledged, in public or in declassified documents, reported cases in Cuba, China, Uzbekistan, Russia, and the United States, although the White House has said “the vast majority” of cases have been reported overseas.
The top Democrat and Republican on the Senate Intelligence Committee warned in May that the “pattern of attacking our fellow citizens serving our government appears to be increasing.”
“In coordination with our interagency partners, we are vigorously investigating reports of possible unexplained health incidents among the U.S. embassy community there” in Vienna, State Department spokesperson Ned Price said Monday.
The agency has declined to provide more details, including the number of affected personnel. But according to The New Yorker magazine, which first reported on the Vienna cluster, it totals around two dozen U.S. diplomats, intelligence officers and other government officials — now second only to Havana.
A CIA spokesperson told ABC News that director Bill Burns “is personally engaged with personnel affected by anomalous health incidents and is highly committed to their care and to determining the cause of these incidents” but declined to provide more details.
Both the CIA and the State Department have elevated their internal task forces investigating reported incidents among their personnel, while the State Department has its own team of medical experts that responds to reported incidents around the world.
(NEW YORK) — A major Texas hospital system has reported its first case of the lambda COVID-19 variant, as the state reels from the rampant delta variant.
Houston Methodist Hospital, which operates eight hospitals in its network, said the first lambda case was confirmed Monday.
The lambda variant was first detected in Peru in August 2020, according to the World Health Organization and makes up 81% of COVID-19 cases sequenced in the country since April 2021, according to a June WHO report. Currently, WHO designates lambda as a “variant of interest.”
Houston Methodist had a little over 100 COVID-19 patients across the hospital system last week. That number rose to 185 Monday, with a majority of those infected being unvaccinated, according to a statement released by the hospital Monday.
Among those infections, about 85% have been diagnosed with the delta variant, hospital officials said.
“We’re seeing an alarming spike in the number of COVID-19 cases across the Houston area, with the steepest increase happening over the weekend,” Houston Methodist said. “The increased hospitalizations add stress to many of our hospitals that are nearing capacity.”
Hospital president and CEO Dr. Marc Boom stressed it is “imperative” that the community “get vaccinated and decrease virus spread.”
Despite the report of the lambda variant, experts at Houston Methodist say delta is still the primary concern in the U.S.
“The lambda is the dominant variant in Peru and Peru has had a very difficult time with COVID-19. It shares mutations in common with the alpha variants, the beta, the gamma, which is the dominant variant in Brazil,” Dr. Wesley Long, medical director of Diagnostic Microbiology at Houston Methodist, told ABC News.
“I don’t think there’s sufficient evidence at this point that we should be more concerned about lambda than delta, I still think delta is the primary concern for us. There’s a lot more evidence that we have that delta is much more contagious, the viral loads are much higher,” he added.
The lambda variant “has been associated with substantive rates of community transmission in multiple countries, with rising prevalence over time concurrent with increased COVID-19 incidence,” the WHO said in its June report. In June, the variant was detected in 29 countries.
The delta variant, which was first detected in India in December, now accounts for about 83% of all sequenced COVID-19 cases in the United States, Center for Disease Control and Prevention Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky said during a Senate hearing Tuesday. The WHO designates delta as a “variant of concern.”
Long noted that Houston Methodist has seen its positivity rate increase and hospitalizations rise, but the situation on the ground is still “far below” the winter peak.
“[Infections are] on the increase. How many more cases are we going to get?” Long said. “We’re going to need more folks to get vaccinated and folks who aren’t vaccinated in particular to practice all the safe practices that we learned through the pandemic to help slow the spread of COVID. All those are critically important to keep this delta wave under control.”
At the moment, 51% of Texas’ state population aged 12 and up is fully vaccinated, according to state data.
(NEW YORK) — GOP Sen. Rand Paul on Tuesday stepped up his months-long fight with the nation’s top infectious disease expert, Dr. Anthony Fauci, suggesting he lied to Congress about whether the National Institutes of Health funded gain-of-function research at the Wuhan Institute of Virology, and triggering an angry shouting match.
At a Senate Health Committee hearing meant to update lawmakers on the country’s COVID-19 response, the Kentucky Republican began by asking Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, if he’s aware that it’s a crime to lie to Congress.
“On May 11, you stated that NIH has not ever and does not now fund gain-of-function research in the Wuhan Institute of Virology,” Paul said. He claimed that gain-of-function research — which could, in theory, enhance the transmissibility of a virus — was performed in the lab and referred to an academic paper by a Chinese scientist, which he then asked to be entered into the record and for a copy to be given to Fauci.
“Dr. Fauci, knowing that it is a crime to lie to Congress, do you wish to retract your statement of May 11, where you claimed at the NIH never funded gain-of-function research and move on?” Paul said, repeating his unsupported accusation.
Fauci flatly rejected Paul’s suggestion.
“Sen. Paul, I have never lied before the Congress. And I do not retract that statement,” he said.
Paul suggested Fauci and the NIH could be partly responsible for the pandemic and the deaths of 4 million people worldwide.
The virology expert explained that the paper Paul referenced does not represent gain-of-function research, and when Paul interrupted, the shouting match ensued.
“Let me finish!” Fauci said, when Paul tried to interject. “Sen. Paul, you do not know what you’re talking about, quite frankly. And I want to say that officially, you do not know what you’re talking about.”
Continuing their ongoing feud, the two argued over the definition of gain-of-function. NIH Director Francis Collins, in a statement earlier this year, warning of misinformation, said, “neither NIH nor NIAID have ever approved any grant that would have supported ‘gain-of-function’ research on coronaviruses that would have increased their transmissibility or lethality for humans.”
But Paul would not be swayed.
“You’re dancing around this because you’re trying to obscure responsibility for four million people dying around them from a pandemic,” Paul said.
At that point, Senate Health Committee Chair Patty Murray, D-Wash., told Paul to let Fauci finish — though the senator continued to interrupt his witness.
“I totally resent the lie that you are now propagating, senator,” Fauci said. “If you look at the viruses that were used in the experiments, that were given in the annual reports, that were published in the literature, it is molecularly impossible–“
Paul interjected, “You are obviously obfuscating the truth,” to which Fauci replied, “I’m not obfuscating the truth — you are.”
“You are implying that what we did was responsible for the deaths of individuals. I totally resent that,” Fauci said.
Paul interrupted, “It could have been.”
“If there is any lying here, senator, it is you,” Fauci shot back, pointing his finger at Paul.
With Paul’s time expired, the lawmaker up next, Sen. Tina Smith, D-N.M., gave Fauci the chance to “counteract these attacks on your integrity that we’ve all just witnessed.”
“I don’t think I have anything further to say,” Fauci said. “This is a pattern that Sen. Paul has been doing now at multiple hearings based on no reality. He keeps talking about gain-of-function. This has been evaluated multiple times by qualified people to not fall under the gain-of-function definition.
“I have not lied before Congress. I have never lied, certainly not before Congress. Case closed,” Fauci said.
(NEW YORK) — A Guantanamo Bay detainee who spent nearly two decades at the notorious facility and thought he might not make it out alive spoke out after being released — the first prisoner freed by the Biden administration.
“I was born again on July 19. My birthday is no longer March 4. I was born yesterday on July 19,” Abdul Latif Nasser said in a statement shared with ABC News. “I have no words to describe my overwhelming sense of happiness and joy. It is like a miracle after 20 years to be home and celebrate Eid together with my family.”
On Tuesday, the legal charity Reprieve, which campaigned for his release and provided legal support, confirmed to ABC News that Nasser was reunited with his family in Morocco.
Nasser, whose case was profiled by ABC News in 2019, was first cleared for release from Guantanamo more than five years ago. He had been detained there for 19 years after he was captured in Afghanistan, alleged by the U.S. government to be an active member of the Taliban and then to have trained with al-Qaeda.
During his time at Guantanamo, he was never charged with a crime, and his lawyers stress that none of the U.S. government’s claims have been aired in a court of law. He was cleared for release in 2016 following a Periodic Review Board (PRB) hearing, set up by the Obama administration in 2011, in order to speed up the process recommending individuals for transfer away from the facility.
The PRB consists of officials from six major agencies, and all members of the board must recommend that law of war detention is no longer justified.
However, after a series of bureaucratic missteps and a political reversal from the Trump administration, which declared that no more prisoners would be released, he remained imprisoned in the facility.
“I want to thank everyone, all the people who worked very hard and spared no efforts to make this possible,” said Nasser in the statement. His case was also the subject of a recent podcast series, ‘The Other Latif’ on New York Public Radio.
With Nasser’s release, the first from the facility since 2016, 39 detainees remain at Guantanamo, 10 of whom have been cleared for release. Seventeen of the remaining are eligible for review, 10 are part of the military commissions process and two detainees have been convicted for their crimes, officials said at a press briefing on Monday.
“On June 17th of this year, the Department of Defense notified Congress of its intent to repatriate Mr. Nasir to Morocco, and, in consultation with our Moroccan partners, we have undertaken a responsible transfer,” a senior administration official said. “The Biden administration remains dedicated to a deliberate and thorough process focused on responsibly reducing the detainee population and ultimately closing of the Guantanamo facility.”
The United States is grateful to the Kingdom of Morocco for its willingness to support ongoing U.S. efforts to close the Guantanamo Bay Detention Facility,” the senior administration official said.
In a statement from Nasser’s brother, Mustafa, his family said were delighted Nasser was home in time for the Islamic festival, Eid al-Adha.
“This is a dream for us as a family that came true at a very special moment,” he said in a statement. ” We want to thank everyone involved who made this miracle possible. Now we would just like some peace and some time to ourselves to help our brother begin his new life in Morocco.”
Advocacy groups celebrated Nasser’s release, but said that the Biden administration must do more to make good on the Obama-era promise to shut the facility down.
“Abdul Latif Nasser’s release is hugely encouraging, but he’s only one man among many who have suffered the same grave injustice of years of detention without trial, even after long since being cleared for release,” Reprieve deputy director Katie Taylor said in a statement. “There are 10 other men cleared for transfer who should be sent home without any further delay or resettled in countries where they can safely begin to rebuild their lives.”
(NEW YORK) — Amazon founder Jeff Bezos blasted to the edge of space and spent a few minutes outside Earth’s atmosphere Tuesday on the first crewed flight from his firm Blue Origin.
An elated Bezos could be heard calling it “the best day ever” after landing back on Earth.
The milestone launch in the modern commercial space race comes on the 52nd anniversary of Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin’s moon landing in 1969, though the space-faring landscape has evolved by giant leaps since then as billionaires emerge as key players driving the new race to the cosmos.
Bezos, who holds the title of the richest man in the world per Bloomberg data, has said the spaceflight will fulfill a lifelong dream and he is also curious how it will “change” him.
Jul 20, 12:55 pm
Bezos discusses ambitious plans for Blue Origin’s future
Bezos revealed what the astronauts spoke about as they were in the capsule ahead of the launch, saying he told his crew mates that the flight is not just about “adventure” but also the start of “something big.”
“What we’re doing is the first step of something big, and I know what that feels like, I did it three decades ago, nearly three decades ago, with Amazon,” Bezos said. “Big things start small, but you can tell when you’re onto something, and this is important.”
“We’re going to build a road to space so that our kids and their kids can build the future, and we need to do that, we need to do that to solve the problems here on Earth,” Bezos added. “This is not about escaping Earth.”
The billionaire said Earth is “the only good planet” in our solar system, and “we’ve sent robotic probes to all of them.”
“When you go to space and see how fragile it is, you want to take care of it even more, and that’s what this is about,” Bezos said.
He also estimated that Blue Origin has approached some $100 million in private ticket sales already.
While building space infrastructure will take decades, Bezos said, “This is how it starts.”
Jul 20, 12:25 pm
’I want to go again,’ says an emotional Wally Funk
Funk officially became the oldest person ever to go to space on Tuesday and fulfilled a lifelong dream that had been put on hold for decades because she is a woman.
Funk trained with the so-called Mercury 13 program for women astronauts in the ’60s, but NASA at the time was only sending men into space.
She called her trip to space on Tuesday “wonderful” and “a great time.”
Jul 20, 12:01 pm
Bezos thanks Amazon employees, customers
Bezos, who stepped down as Amazon CEO earlier this month ahead of the launch, thanked the staff and customers of his e-commerce empire for funding the trip.
“I also want to thank every Amazon employee and every Amazon customer, because you guys paid for all of this,” he said during the post-launch news conference.
“Seriously, for every Amazon customer out there and every Amazon employee, thank you from the bottom of my heart,” he added.
Bezos has previously said that he sold some $1 billion in Amazon stock annually to fund Blue Origin in its infancy.
Jul 20, 12:01 pm
New Shepard crew receives astronaut pins
Blue Origin’s Jeff Ashby, a former Space Shuttle commander, presented astronaut wings to the four crew members at a post-launch press conference.
Ashby said the wings were designed with “a tiny blue sapphire” at the top, “to remind these folks that they are from planet Earth and that they have a mission to protect this home.”
While presenting wings to the Amazon founder, Ashby told Bezos, “There are few people I know more deserving of this.”
“I don’t know what you are going to do next, but I can’t wait to watch,” Ashby added.
An emotional Funk said it was the best pin she has ever received — and promised there would be “more to come.”
Jul 20, 11:31 am
Newly minted astronaut Jeff Bezos says spaceflight left him ‘speechless’
Shortly after landing back on Earth, the elated Amazon founder opened up about his experience in a brief interview with ABC News’ Michael Strahan.
“I’m speechless in a way … I don’t have the talent to put into words what we just experienced, maybe we need to send a poet up at some point or something,” Bezos said. “But it was incredible.”
Ahead of his flight, Bezos told Strahan he was curious how leaving Earth’s atmosphere would “change” him. Now that he’s returned, the billionaire said he was awestruck by how “tiny” and fragile our planet is.
“When you get up there, you see that it’s this tiny, thin little thing that makes you realize just how precious it is and how fragile it is how much we need to take care of it,” he added.
Jul 20, 10:29 am
Crew capsule reached an altitude of 347,563 feet
Blue Origin released some statistics on the mission shortly after the capsule landed back on Earth.
The crew capsule reached an altitude of some 347,563 feet above ground level (or 351,210 mean sea level).
The maximum ascent velocity was some 2,233 mph.
In total, the mission was 10 minutes and 10 seconds.
Jul 20, 10:04 am
Richard Branson congratulates Bezos on a successful flight
Sir Richard Branson, who flew to the edge of space via his own company Virgin Galactic earlier this month, sent well-wishes to Bezos and his crew on Tuesday.
“Impressive! Very best to all the crew from me and all the team at @virgingalactic,” the commercial space entrepreneur wrote.
After the capsule landed back on Earth, Jeff Bezos was seen through the window pumping his fists and giving a thumbs-up.
The Bezos brothers, Wally Funk and Oliver Daemon then exited the capsule with huge smiles on their faces and were greeted with cheers and hugs.
Jul 20, 9:26 am
Capsule lands back on earth
After an approximately 10-minute journey, the capsule floated back down to the earth via a parachute and touched down at approximately 9:23 a.m ET.
“It was so amazing, it was so amazing,” Daemen can be heard saying upon landing.
Jul 20, 9:22 am
Booster lands back on earth
The booster has returned to earth, landing successfully while the capsule carrying the crew has crossed the Karman line — the boundary between earth’s atmosphere and space.
“You have a very happy crew up here, I want you to know,” one of the astronauts can be heard saying.
Jul 20, 9:18 am
Capsule separates from booster, astronauts are experiencing ‘Zero-G’
Mission Control has confirmed the capsule has separated from the booster and the astronauts are now experiencing a few minutes of weightlessness.
Audio from the capsule captures the joyful moments the crew discovered they were in microgravity.
Jul 20, 9:13 am
New Shepard soars in first flight with humans aboard
The New Shepard spacecraft lifted off at around 9:12 a.m. ET, carrying the Bezos brothers, Funk and Daemen to the edge of space.
The spacetrip will be 11 minutes total.
Jul 20, 9:06 am
New Shepard is a ‘go’ for launch
The go poll is now complete, and New Shepard is officially a “go” for launch.
Jul 20, 9:02 am
Launch has been delayed by a few minutes
With the astronauts in the capsule and the hatch closed, there was a temporary pause in launch activities for approximately five minutes while Blue Origin staff did final checks. Launch activities have since resumed, and liftoff is just 11 minutes away.
Jul 20, 8:46 am
The hatch has been closed
The hatch for the New Shepard capsule has officially been closed, and the final checks are now underway ahead of the launch.
The Bezos brothers were seen waving and smiling through the windows of the capsule.
Jul 20, 8:46 am
Crew is buckling in their seats
The crew are now getting in their seats on the capsule and buckling-in ahead of the closing of the hatch. A communications check with each astronaut has also commenced.
Jul 20, 8:38 am
Led by Wally Funk, astronauts climb the crew tower
The astronauts, led by 82-year-old Funk, were seen climbing the tower and preparing to ingress the New Shepard capsule.
The crew arrived atop at the so-called astronaut safety shelter, with approximately 30 minutes to go before launch.
Jul 20, 8:24 am
Crew is en route to the launchpad
The four soon-to-be astronauts were spotted emerging from the astronaut training center around 8:15 a.m. ET and entering vehicles that will take them to the launchpad.
The Bezos brothers, Wally Funk and Oliver Daemon were greeted with cheers from Blue Origin staff as they cruised past mission control on the way to the launchpad. The launch remains on schedule for a 9 a.m. liftoff.
Jul 20, 8:12 am
Meet the history-making crew
The Amazon founder will be accompanied on the historic journey by his brother, Mark Bezos, as well as the oldest and youngest people ever to go to space, Wally Funk, 82-years-old, and Oliver Daemon, 18.
Funk is a trailblazing female pilot who trained to be an astronaut with the so-called “Mercury 13” program during the original U.S.-Soviet space race era but was then told they were only sending men to space at the time. Funk still blazed trails for women in aerospace, becoming the first female Federal Aviation Administration inspector.
Daemon is a Dutch student set to begin classes at Utrecht University this fall, and is the first paying customer for Blue Origin after the initial auction winner backed out. Daemon graduated high school in 2020, and has said he hopes his trip inspires other young people. Blue Origin said the anonymous bidder who paid $28 million won’t make it on Tuesday due to “scheduling conflicts.” The company has not disclosed how much Daemon paid for his seat.
Jul 20, 7:08 am
New Shepard rocket rolled out onto launchpad
Blue Origin’s New Shepard rocket and capsule is now on the launchpad at the company’s “Launch Site One” facility in a remote area in the West Texas desert, about 25 miles north of the small town of Van Horn.
The reusable suborbital rocket system, which launches and lands vertically, was rolled out early Tuesday morning, before its scheduled take-off at 9 a.m. ET.
“The launch team completed vehicle rollout this morning and final preparations are underway,” Blue Origin tweeted at 6:53 a.m. ET.
Jul 20, 5:50 am
Bezos jokes he’s not having his ‘last meal’
Bezos joked with reporters that he did not have his “last meal” before taking off on his space travel company’s first flight with people on board.
As the Amazon and Blue Origin founder served food to members of the press gathered at the remote rocket launch site in the West Texas desert, one reporter jokingly asked: “Is this your last meal?”
“Hey, did somebody say ‘last meal?'” Bezos, wearing a cowboy hat and sunglasses, responded to laughter. “I don’t think we should put it that way. Let’s talk about it in a different way.”
Chicken thighs, mac ‘n’ cheese and black-eyed peas were on the menu — a “favorite” recipe by Bezos’ grandmother. He also handed out copies of the recipe.
“Now, if you don’t like this, just keep it to yourself,” Bezos said to more laughter.
Bezos told reporters that he and his three crewmates had finished their training.
“We’re going to have a little refresher early tomorrow morning,” he added. “We have an early wake up tomorrow.”
What is happening and how to watch
Liftoff of the inaugural Blue Origin flight is scheduled for 9 a.m. ET from a rural complex just north of Van Horn, Texas. In total, the flight will be 11 minutes, with approximately three minutes spent above the so-called Karman line that is defined by some as the boundary between Earth’s atmosphere and outer space. After re-entry, the astronauts are set to descend back to Earth in their capsule with a parachute-landing in the west Texas desert.
ABC News will carry live coverage of the event, which will also be streamed on Blue Origin’s website. The live broadcast will begin at 7:30 a.m. ET. Unlike most spaceflights, there are no on-site public viewing areas in the vicinity of the launch site. The newly-minted astronauts are set to have a press conference shortly after landing back on earth.
There is no pilot aboard the fully-autonomous capsule. While Blue Origin’s New Shepard has flown 15 test flights, Tuesday’s will be the first with humans on board.
The definition of “space” has emerged as a heated debate point in the new space race, as Sir Richard Branson took heat for not passing the Karman line (roughly 62 miles above earth) during his Virgin Galactic spaceflight earlier this month. Neither Blue Origin nor Virgin Galactic’s flights will reach Earth’s orbit, however, the way Elon Musk’s SpaceX missions have. Musk, also a billionaire player in the new space race, on Twitter has called out this “big difference.”
While the modern space race has become the arena of the ultra-wealthy at a time when a global pandemic on earth has exacerbated inequities, some argue the rise of private sector involvement has saved NASA money and accelerated technological advances — which in the long-term has the potential to open up space tourism to all who have been curious about the cosmos.
Still, the billionaire daredevils using themselves as guinea pigs for their private space tourism firms have not had the same support astronauts garnered during the original U.S.-Soviet space race. Animosity was exacerbated by reports that Bezos and Musk have avoided income taxes. A Change.org petition calling for Bezos to stay in space has garnered headlines and more than 160,000 signatures.
In an interview with ABC News’ “Good Morning America” just one day ahead of the spaceflight, Bezos said he is curious how briefly leaving Earth will “change” him.
“I don’t know what it’s going to mean for me,” Bezos said. “I don’t know, I’m very curious about what tomorrow is actually going to bring. Everybody who’s been to space says it changes them in some way. And I’m just really excited to figure out how it’s going to change me.”
